Virgil,
I hope you won't take it personally.
I wold never recommend to buy that book!!! I have it and it a total waste of your money and time. over 2/3 of the book is just about CSS!!! Also, the book is quite old and in the internet world when everything chnages so fast...
Unfortunately, I do not know a great DHTML book (I'm not looking that hard, though - there are so many online resources) that is up-to-date. But I wouldn't recommend going for older books (the info will be SOOO outdated!), even if you're a beginner.

I think http://www.w3schools.com is a very good resource (http://www.htmlgoodies.com also has some info.)
the biggest thing for me is trial and error. unfortunately, you can't know everything. so what I feel is important, is to grasp the general understanding of the differences between the browsers and the DOM (which w3schools ia good resource for) and then,... do it and learn from your mistakes. I use forums a lot. Also, if you see a page that features a certain effect - look at the source code and learn it a-z and not just sit there thinking "those guys are probably SOO smart. I will never discover how they did it". Study the source code!!! You cannot imagine how much one source code can really teach you!!! Try, experiment and don't be afraid to ask questions.

p.s. can't really think of all those web sites now. will get back to you once I regain my memory (I'm having a rough day today) lol

Your best weapon for hacking your way through browser-related technologies is a solid working knowledge of JavaScript. It'll help you answer many (if not most) of your own questions.

Here's a newly released book that not only seems to do a good job on JS, but includes coverage of other web-related topics and, most admirably, a pretty good dissertation on the new Level 1 Document Object Model and how to navigate it.

I agree with Valerie about the VQG-DHTML book not being a very good DHTML book ... but it is one of the best inexpensive CSS books around.

Looking for a Beginner's Guide to DHTML is a bit of an oxymoron -- to be able to write this stuff on the fly really does require a solid understanding of (a) JS, (b) CSS, and (c) how the browsers have mucked up the DOM and what you need to do to get around it. What I'd recommend is getting some top-notch reference books to fall back on, but looking for on-line widgets and code samples as stuff to learn from. DHTML is a lot closer to rocket science than plain HTML and simple JS is ... but they're all more like weightlifting than rocket science -- the more of it you do, the better you get.

As references, I like Danny Goodman's work. He's got a new edition (4th) of the JavaScript Bible coming out soon, and he also authored O'Reilly's Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference. Not a day goes by without me diving into that book.

Bob, we should be a team - you agreed with me and now I ... (guess what!!!) agree with you. LOL Since the ? was about dhtml book I didn't refer to the "JavaScript Bible", but I have it and LOVE it!. I would not say that it is the greates "how-to" book for a beginner (but sincerely, I dodn't know if such a book even exists, 'cause how can somebody teach you logic?), but it is a GREAT reference book for JavaScript with some tips and tricks (not much on dhtml, though). But, agreeing with you again, a solid understanding of JS, CSS and DOM is an essential first step to being able to work with dhtml. Actually, dhtml == js + css + dom. That's why I wonder if there's anything (book, web site...) that can really teach you dhtml (and dhtml only). If you know all those 3 concepts - you're on your way.

As an online resource I would also highly recomment Dynamic Drive.
I had this crazy idea once, that if I can study every script from Dynamic Drive...
As I have said before, one of the best ways to get into dhtml is to study other people's code. And not just have a brief look at it and think "oh, these guys are way too smart and I will never be able to do/understand that". But STUDY until you understand what every function does and you know every object, method, property etc. used to create that particular script. In my opinion, that + practice is the key.